Amanda and Howard Pearlstein have written a new picture book, LIEBRARY illustrated by Maren AMini and published by Yeehoo Press. It will hit bookstores on May 2nd. Howard has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner living in the United States.
All you have to do to get in the running is leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know other things you do to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.
Sharing on Facebook, Twitter or reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. So, thanks for helping Howard, Amanda, and Maren.
If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. Thanks!
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A rhyming tale about what happens when a family decides to take every word to heart―and the hilarious consequences that follow.
Should children learn to drive cars? Are volcanoes bubbling with fondu? And do rhinos make good pets?
Mikayla and Drew loved to read and learn new things…but when a new stack of books gives way to facts unlike anything they had ever heard of before, chaos ensues! Soon the children are swimming with alligators, eating candies like vitamins, and getting blasted by their neighbor. Which leads them to wonder . . .
If it's in a book, is it actually true? From Amanda Pearlstein, Howard Pearlstein, and Maren Amini, comes a rhyming tale about what happens when a family decides to take every word to heart―and the hilarious consequences that follow. A perfect book for fans of Harry Bliss and Doreen Cronin!
BOOK JOURNEY:
Howard Pearlstein and Amanda Pearlstein
Driving home one day in April of 2021, I passed by a library and it occurred to me that the word "library" sounds the same whether it's spelled correctly or "liebrary."
Around that time, the term "fake news" was all over TV and social media and, unfortunately, a lot and people tended to believe whatever story aligned with their viewpoints – no matter how fantastical or unrealistic the stories might have been. I thought it would be interesting to tell a story about the consequences of believing everything you read without thinking critically about what is actually being said. I wanted to create a story that was fun and funny, but also showed the importance of using critical thinking skills when faced with unbelievable "facts."
I wrote a draft and thought it was okay, but knew it could be better. My oldest daughter, Amanda, and I had already collaborated on one book, Tribeca, published by Marshall Cavendish, so I knew she could improve this story. Sure enough, she took my Corolla of a manuscript and transformed it into a Lexus. It was so much fun working together. We each saw ways to push the story and tweaked it for a few rounds over the course of a week – adding scenes, fine-tuning the rhyme and meter, brainstorming titles for the "liebrary" books and sharing our visions for the illustrations.
Once we felt like it was submission-ready, we sent the manuscript to a couple of dozen agents. We knew the story was good, but not a single one showed any interest. We either received form rejection letters or no responses at all.
Realizing the agent route wasn't going to work, we started querying presses that took unsolicited manuscripts. Within a few days of sending the manuscript to Yeehoo, they responded and said that they'd like to publish the book. In October of 2021 we signed our contract with them. We love the work that Maren Amini did as our illustrator to bring the story to life, and we are excited to be able to share this book with the world on May 2, 2023.
HOWARD'S BIO:
Howard Pearlstein is a picture book author and advertising creative director who has worked on some of the world's most popular brands, including Toyota, Verizon and Mitsubishi. A California native, Howard now lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, Debi. Howard has three daughters, Amanda, Jacquie and Emily, who live across the country, and one dog, Maeby, who still lives at home.
AMANDA'S BIO:
Amanda Pearlstein is a civil rights lawyer who wishes all of her writing could rhyme and come with cute illustrations. And her next children's book, Tribeca – also a collaboration with her dad Howard.
She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her partner Wendy, their dog Toby, their cat East Village and an ever-changing cast of foster kittens — one of whom was the inspiration for this story.
MAREN AMINI'S BIO:
Maren Amini is based in Hamburg, Germany. She works mainly with digital ink and watercolours. With her work, she brings themes and emotions simply and directly to the point. Increasingly, she also creates time-lapse videos with visualised core messages to accompany the finished illustrations. Her husband Daniell Amini composes the music for these videos and so these messages arrive with double impact.
For Maren Amini, humour is a great medium to make complicated, heavy and dry topics stick with the end consumer. Because once you laugh about a topic, it stays with you forever.
Howard, thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. I enjoyed the funny chaos and hijinks that oozes from every page in this book. Kids will be rolling around giggling reading this story. I love the turn around where it starts with the Dad saying, "If it's in a book, it must be right," and ending with Dad saying, "Guess we can't believe everything we read." Marin's Illustrations make the whole story funnier - perfect for this book. Good luck!
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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